California Public Employees Retirement System Decreases Stake in The Carlyle Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CG)

California Public Employees Retirement System reduced its position in shares of The Carlyle Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CG) by 5.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 345,773 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 20,647 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned about 0.10% of The Carlyle Group worth $17,458,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. William Blair Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of The Carlyle Group by 15.5% in the 4th quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 13,249,941 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $668,990,000 after buying an additional 1,773,465 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of The Carlyle Group during the fourth quarter worth about $83,784,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of The Carlyle Group during the fourth quarter worth about $44,532,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in The Carlyle Group by 68.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,919,439 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $82,651,000 after buying an additional 777,304 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi increased its position in The Carlyle Group by 33.6% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 2,364,231 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $123,673,000 after buying an additional 594,661 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on CG shares. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of The Carlyle Group from $47.00 to $46.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on The Carlyle Group from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Barclays decreased their price objective on The Carlyle Group from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on The Carlyle Group from $54.00 to $48.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered shares of The Carlyle Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, The Carlyle Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $54.00.

The Carlyle Group Stock Performance

Shares of CG opened at $35.89 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $47.81 and a two-hundred day moving average of $49.51. The stock has a market cap of $12.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.91, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.73. The Carlyle Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $33.02 and a 12-month high of $57.50. The company has a current ratio of 2.32, a quick ratio of 2.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42.

The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ:CG) last posted its earnings results on Monday, February 10th. The financial services provider reported $0.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by ($0.08). The Carlyle Group had a net margin of 18.81% and a return on equity of 24.02%. As a group, research analysts predict that The Carlyle Group Inc. will post 4.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The Carlyle Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st were issued a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.90%. The Carlyle Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.36%.

The Carlyle Group Company Profile

The Carlyle Group Inc is an investment firm specializing in direct and fund of fund investments. Within direct investments, it specializes in management-led/ Leveraged buyouts, privatizations, divestitures, strategic minority equity investments, structured credit, global distressed and corporate opportunities, small and middle market, equity private placements, consolidations and buildups, senior debt, mezzanine and leveraged finance, and venture and growth capital financings, seed/startup, early venture, emerging growth, turnaround, mid venture, late venture, PIPES.